JUST KIDDING! But coming home to a sinfully delicious and hoppy Middle Ages Wailing Wench beer adds incentive. My real reason for coming home a second weekend in a row is to celebrate my best friend’s birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

My mom will be another year wiser this Sunday, but because my brother and I have work/school on Monday morning we will be celebrating by going out to dinner on Saturday evening. We are going to a French restaurant that she picked out and I am BEYOND excited! I’ve never been to a French restaurant and I cannot wait to engage in a new cultural experience (complete with a nice Bordeaux wine of course 🙂 ).

I drove directly home after work today and sipped on a much appreciated beer with my dad as my mom prepared dinner. For dinner we had grilled steak with oven roasted potato wedges and an iceberg wedge salad with goat cheese and tomatoes in a red wine vinaigrette. Dinner was also served with a touch more beer. IT’S SO GOOD, I SWEAR!

I’m not a huge steak person, however; from time to time I CRAVE it and nothing else will do. I haven’t had red meat in a while and lately my meals have been fairly vegetarian, so I was long over due. I topped my steak with a bit of A1 Steak Sauce and had an abundance of ketchup on the side for my potato wedges. Home cookin’ at its finest! Thanks mom!

After dinner I proceeded to clean the kitchen. Fun Fact: I’m a freak about cleaning the kitchen. It doesn’t even have to be my own. I have been known to obsessively do the dishes at dinner parties.

When I finished, I desperately searched the freezer for my favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream but there was none to be found. I debated baking brownies but it was nearly 9pm. What is a girl with a sweet-tooth to do? IMPROVISE. I mixed ~1/3 cup Chobani Plain Greek Yogurt with 1 heaping tsp of Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder and then added a mound of chopped strawberries and cinnamon to the bowl. Not quite ice cream but still delicious!

I’ve been awake since 5 AM and I’m exhausted. I think a ritual Farmer’s Market Saturday trip is in store for tomorrow (weather permitting), so hopefully I’ll be meeting you at the market!

My roommate and I have two friends who LOVE to cook. We have made dinner for each other twice before, and although we discussed a third extravaganza months ago, we were not schedule a get together until last night. When I asked them what they were cooking, they told me it was, “Swiss and Italian”, but would not reveal the details of the meal beyond that.One of our friends is from Switzerland and grew up watching his mom cook authentic dishes. The first time he and his friend made dinner for us he made Spaetzleand Chocolate Mousse (using Lindt Chocolate of course!). It was absolutely to die for. I love experiencing other cultures through food.

Our friends arrived around 7pm, and established themselves in our kitchen. Yes, we had two boys cooking us a fantastic meal. Aren’t we lucky? We started off with one of my contributions, a Middle Ages ImPaled Ale (IPA), while they cooked and we watched. I loved watching them cook. They are so diligent and precise. This beer is also amazing. It is so flavorful and mildly bitter. I really like Middle Ages Wailing Wench, however; my roommate isn’t particularly fond of extremely hoppy beers. I wanted her to give this one a try, and guess what, SHE LIKED IT!

So what do you get when Switzerland meets Italy? Pasta Carbonara and Orange Cream. The pasta was cooked according to directions, and drained reserving about a cup of pasta water. The sauce was a combination of Asaigo Cheese, Nutmeg, Cracked Black Pepper and Pasta Water. After the cheese mix was added, he added 3 raw eggs and bacon with sautéed onions. Cheese and bacon…what could be bad? Dinner was served with a slice of Twisted Root (Dark German Bread) and a simple side salad. Our Swiss friend even made the dressing from scratch using olive oil, balsamic vinegar and Dijon mustard. He states, “This is the only way to make it.” I also contributed a wine that I have been “saving for a rainy day”, a 2007 Hermann J. Wiemer Merlot. I fell in love with this wine last summer when I visited the Wiemer Vineyard. The Finger Lakes Region Rieslings are near and dear to my heart, but have never found a red wine as luscious as this Merlot from the area. It is a wine that makes you feel good with each sip; perfect for sharing with good company.

Dinner and conversation lasted for nearly two hours. I couldn’t believe how quickly time went, we were having so much fun. I nominated myself to do a quick kitchen clean up while the boys served dessert: Orange Cream. This was essentially whipped heavy cream with an orange sauce (orange juice, lemon, corn starch on the stove) folded in. It was so light and delicious. Our friend told us that he thought it would be a perfect dessert after our pasta/bacon/cheese dinner. It was something that his mother would make when he was a child in Switzerland. This is what I like to call food from the heart! Every dish has a story behind it, and I was happy we were able to share this with him.

We continued catching up late into the night and I didn’t get to bed until 1:30am. Good Food+Good Company= Lasting Memories. I’m probably going to be exhausted tomorrow, but I live for these moments!

Stuffed,

Nora

What is your favorite meal to prepare for company? (My roommate and I have to make them dinner next time so I need advice!! I’m thinking Mediterranean style, since this is one of my favorites!)

On Wednesday morning, I woke up to sunshine, a blue sky and mild temperature in NYC. My dad and I enjoy running, so we took advantage of the rare weather conditions, and ventured out to Central Park. In such a crazy and busy city, this plot of land provides some serenity. It was absolutely beautiful. When we got back to our hotel, I needed some fast fuel so I dug into my “travel food” stash and had a cup of Greek Yogurt, Bear Naked Fruit and Nut Granola, and a big Jonagold Apple.For breakfast the other days we found a small, family-run diner around the corner. It was charming, and one of the few places in the city that didn’t charge an arm and a leg for a bowl of cereal. I ended up ordering the same thing both times we went: Spinach, Tomato, and Mushroom Egg White Omelet with Potatoes and Whole Wheat Toast.It was huge, but so delicious! Naturally I covered the omelet in hot sauce and ate every last bite of goodness! It came with 2 pieces of this toast (I had about 1.5 slices) which I smothered in Concord Grape Jelly. The potatoes were fresh, but a bit bland so I didn’t finish them. I am not big on hash browns/potatoes for breakfast, but I cannot resist the crispy topping that is generated when they are cooked in a skillet! This breakfast was simple, and had such a familiar, traditional taste.

The basketball games were from about 12pm-4pm and 7pm-11pm each day, so a variety of snacks found their way into my bag:

Fruit and Nut Delight (so hungry...needed a pre-picture bite)

PB&J LaraBar

How'd this get there?

Beer that comes with a pretzel...genius.

I love snacking on LaraBars and KIND Bars. They satisfy my hunger, are portable, and delicious. I also found a Haagen-Dazs Vanilla and Almonds ice cream bar in my bag…weird. My sweet tooth always needs tending to after dinner, so I had to buy one of these during a 7pm game. The last picture was a necessary 12pm beer for the Syracuse game. There was a place in the stadium that sold beer in cups with a pretzel in the handle. It was my only overpriced beer of the Big East Championship, but the pretzel TOTALLY made it worth it.

A few of the days we ended up having late lunches or early dinners. When I am not particularly starving for a meal, nothing is better than a satisfying salad. I had a

Rotisserie Chicken and Grilled Vegetable Salad for a light lunch.And for an early dinner, I had a Roasted Beet, Goat Cheese, Arugula and Hazelnut Salad completed with a multigrain roll from the bread basket. I had to take a picture of the basket because I have never seen so much variety. It contained: sourdough, multigrain, rosemary, and fennel-raisin.I also had some of the fennel-raisin roll, and was shocked by the anise flavor; it was interesting and amazing. A lot of the food that I tried on this trip has inspired me to try new flavors and varieties in the things I make at home. I wish I had more time to explore the eateries and markets while I was there, I love how much culture is contained in one place.

To Food Ventures,

Nora

In your opinion, what major city has the best food? Do you plan places to eat before you travel, or stumble upon them when you are there?